Fernando Alonso believes Formula 1’s decision to host back-to-back races in Austria “doesn’t make much sense”.
It is the second year in a row that the Red Bull Ring is holding two races, after the Turkish Grand Prix, which was originally chosen to replace Canada, also had to be postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
But in a year that where F1 is pushing to ensure a record 23 races take place, Alonso is perplexed why two will take place at the same venue.
“For next weekend we will have to think about whether it rains or something because the cars are going to be the same,” he said after last Sunday’s first race in Spielberg.
“We will see a similar weekend.
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“On second thought, it doesn’t really make much sense to do two Grands Prix on the same circuit, same cars, one weekend followed by another.
“But hey, we’ll have to wait for the weather to hopefully help a little to create some uncertainty. If not, I think we will see a re-run of this race.
“For us, it will be another difficult weekend. A couple of points or a point will be the maximum.”
Some ideas were considered including running the second race on a reverse layout and using the Sprint Qualifying format but both were dropped.
However, Styrian GP race winner Max Verstappen does think the Austrian GP will offer up different storylines.
“The fact we were able to win the first home race was a team performance we can be very satisfied with, but we can’t just do the same this weekend,” said the Dutchman.
“The opponents will learn their lessons from the most recent races and we will have softer tyre compounds (C5, C4 & C3), which could also change the order.
“We produced a very good race but there are always things we can do better and I also expect the field to move closer together, as is usually the case when two consecutive races take place on the same track.”